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By Charles Brun: Conor Benn says Kell Brook is his #1 choice for his next fight after stopping Chris Van Heerden (28-3-1, 12 KOs) in the second round last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Brook is over-the-hill at this point in his career, but he’s worlds better than the 34-year-old Van Heerden, who Benn dispatched with a chopping right hand to the side of the head in the second round.
Benn says Brook is ideal for his “progression” at welterweight. As far as Benn (21-0, 14 KOs) getting a fight against the soon-to-be 36-year-old Brook, it may be easier said than done, seeing that he asked for ten million pounds to face Conor, according to promoter Eddie Hearn.
Forget all this nonsense about “progression” that Benn is babbling about. The reality is, Benn can make a TON of loot fighting Kell Brook in the UK; we’re talking MILLIONS for a fight against a shopworn over-the-hill guy, whose career has been on the downside since his loss to Gennadiy Golovkin in 2016.
With many boxing fans viewing Benn as conning the public by fighting old guys and making easy money, he needs to show them that he’s for real, not a fake.
Benn’s talk of “progression” would be believable if there wasn’t so much coin for him to make against another old-timer Brook.
If Benn were talking about progression in a fight against an obscure YOUNGER fighter with loads of talent, boxing fans could buy what he’s saying. You can argue that the appeal for Benn in fighting Brook is the green that he’ll get fighting the played-out former IBF welterweight champion.
“Kell Brook is the #1 in terms of Britain, he’s a former world champion, he’s coming off a great win [over 35-year-old Amir Khan], and he’s highly ranked in the world rankings,” said Conor Benn at the post-fight news conference last Saturday after his second-round KO of 34-year-old Chris Van Heerden.
“That makes sense in terms of the progression of my career because he’s ranked,” Benn continued about why he wants to fight Brook next. “I’m not too fussed about the Amir Khan fight,”
“Brook would be my go-to. Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, and Ugas are the sort of names I want. Listen, I’ll let them [Matchroom Boxing] do the matchmaking, and I’ll do the fighting,” said Benn.
I hate to break it to Benn, but Danny Garcia, Mikey Garcia, and Brook are faded veterans. Mikey, 34, is coming off an embarrassing 12-round majority decision loss to the 140-lb fringe contender Sandor Martin last October.
Mikey ISN’T a welterweight, and that’s been shown in his fights against Errol Spence Jr. and Jessie Vargas. The former four-division world champion Mikey’s best weight class was featherweight.
Before last Saturday, Van Heerden hadn’t fought since 2020 when he was getting hammered by then 22-year-old Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis. You can argue that Boots Ennis looks MUCH better against Van Heerden than Benn did.
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